Mount Wilson fire burns 30 acres, threatens observatory, TV towers

Share this:

A plane drops a fire retardant on Mt. Wilson fire. Firefighters have the Mt. Wilson Fire five percent contained with thirty acres burnt Tuesday, October 18, 2017. The road to Mt. Wilson has been closed to the public. (Photo by Walt Mancini/Pasadena Star-News/SCNG)

A 30-acre brush fire burning on Mount Wilson threatened a historic observatory along with local television and radio towers atop the prominent peak in the San Gabriel Mountains on Tuesday.

Dubbed the Wilson fire, the blaze was reported at about 4:45 a.m. in the general area of Mount Wilson-Red Box Road in the Angeles National Forest, according to the Los Angeles County Fire Department.

The fire was 25 percent contained as of 8:30 p.m., according to the U.S. Forest Service. Approximately 300 firefighters were responding along with four air tankers, seven helicopters and two air attack aircraft.

Personnel from the Los Angeles County Fire Department, Bureau of Land Management and CALFire assisted.

A spokesman for the U.S. Forest Service Angeles National Forest, said there is more than $500 million worth of television and radio equipment at Mount Wilson, which houses the observatory and more than 30 communications towers.

Firefighters have reached 25% containment on #WilsonFire. Work will continue through the night.

Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department deputies evacuated about 15 people working at the Mount Wilson Observatory, according to Lt. Mark Slater of the Crescenta Valley Sheriff’s Station.

Slater said three stayed behind to care for the observatory and other historical sites.

Historical structures on Mount Wilson include “the telescope obviously, but then there’s buildings up there that have housed presidents and famous people,” Slater said. “Einstein was even up there.”

Founded in 1904 by George Ellery Hale, the observatory is home to two giant telescopes, including the 100-inch Hooker telescope, the world’s largest from 1917 to 1949.

“There’s so much historical value up there that they’d rather risk the dangers of staying in the fire path and try to save Mount Wilson,” Slater said.

In the end, the fire crept as close as 400 feet from the Visitor’s Center parking lot and about a mile from the observatory itself, said Maria Holguin, a fire information officer for Angeles National Forest.

About 2 miles away from the fire, Deb Burgess, owner of the Chantry Flat Pack Station, was rounding up her nine donkeys, six goats and six cats Tuesday morning in case she needed to evacuate.

Burgess has called an animal transport company to come up the mountain. But she doesn’t know who will take her animals. She asked Santa Anita Park, but they turned her down, she said.

“I am trying to find some place where I can take them,” she said when reached by phone Tuesday. Ultimately, Chantry Flat did not have to evacutate.

The Pack Station is used by campers, Boy Scouts and other groups to bring in supplies by donkey to remote camp sites in Big Santa Anita Canyon.

Authorities closed the Chantry Flat Recreation Area to the public. Hiking trails in Eaton Canyon and Santa Anita Canyon were also closed.

“There have been notifications made alerting the people that do live there about the fire but not to evacuate,” Holguin said.

Slater said Crescenta Valley Sheriff’s Station’s search and rescue team were checking the wilderness campgrounds in the area to notify anyone there that they may have to evacuate.

No injuries were reported. Mount Wilson Road was closed to the public.

Tuesday’s blaze was not the first to come knocking on the observatory’s door.

In 2009, the Station Fire came within a few hundred yards of the facility. That fire was one of the larger wildfires in the history of Los Angeles County, burning 250 square miles — more than 25 percent of Angeles National Forest land.

In advance of the Wilson fire, crews cleared more than 15 acres of brush around the observatory, which helped slow the blaze, according to the Angeles National Forest’s Twitter account.

A plane drops a fire retardant on the Mount Wilson fire. Firefighters had it 5 percent contained with 30 acres burnt Tuesday, October 18, 2017. The road to Mount Wilson has been closed to the public. (Photo by Walt Mancini/Pasadena Star-News/SCNG)

A helicopter drops a fire retardant on the Mount Wilson fire. Firefighters had it 5 percent contained with 30 acres burnt Tuesday, October 18, 2017. The road to Mount Wilson has been closed to the public. (Photo by Walt Mancini/Pasadena Star-News/SCNG)

Sound

The gallery will resume inseconds

Fire crews going toward hotspots of the Mount Wilson fire. Firefighters had it 5 percent contained with 30 acres burnt Tuesday, October 18, 2017. The road to Mount Wilson has been closed to the public. (Photo by Walt Mancini/Pasadena Star-News/SCNG)

Firefighter putting out hotspots near summit of Mt. Wilson. Firefighters have the Mt. Wilson Fire five percent contained with thirty acres burnt Tuesday, October 18, 2017. The road to Mt. Wilson has been closed to the public. (Photo by Walt Mancini/Pasadena Star-News/SCNG)

Hotspot near summit of Mount Wilson. Firefighters had the blaze 5 percent contained with 30 acres burnt Tuesday, October 18, 2017. The road to Mount Wilson has been closed to the public. (Photo by Walt Mancini/Pasadena Star-News/SCNG)

Mount Wilson view from Rosemead Boulevard in Pasadena.Firefighters had the blaze 5 percent contained with 30 acres burnt Tuesday, October 18, 2017. The road to Mount Wilson has been closed to the public. (Photo by Walt Mancini/Pasadena Star-News/SCNG)

Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department deputies near the entrance of the closed Chantry Flat Recreation Area Oct. 17, 2017. Officials closed the area while a brush fire burned near the Mount Wilson Observatory. (Photo by LASD)

View from Temple City of the fire near the Mount Wilson Observatory burning on Oct. 17, 2017. (Photo by LASD)

Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department deputies at the entrance of the closed Chantry Flat Recreation Area on Oct. 17, 2017. Officials closed the area while a brushfire burned near the Mount Wilson Observatory. (Photo by LASD)

A helicopter flys by the area where firefighters were battling a 30-acre brushfire near the Mount Wilson Observatory on Oct. 17, 2017. (Photo by Angeles National Forest)

Firefighters battled a 30-acre brushfire near the Mount Wilson Observatory on Oct. 17, 2017. Here, smoke could be seen near the edge of the fire. (Photo by Angeles National Forest)

A brush fire burns near the summit of Mount Wilson early Tuesday, Oct. 17, 2017. Fire crews were hoping to get control of the slow burning fire before it threatened any homes or structures in the area. ( Photo by David Crane, Los Angeles Daily News/SCNG)

Stephanie K. Baer is a general assignment reporter covering the San Gabriel Valley. Baer has written about crime, local government, politics and public health. Her reporting on flaws in Los Angeles County's restaurant grading system prompted officials to change the way they issue health grades to retail food facilities. As part of a fellowship program at USC Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism's Center for Health Journalism, she wrote an in-depth series about the dangers of blue-green algae toxins in California. A Bay Area native and UC Berkeley graduate, Baer has worked for the Chicago Tribune and the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. She was editor-in-chief and president of her college newspaper, The Daily Californian.

Join the Conversation

We invite you to use our commenting platform to engage in insightful conversations about issues in our community. Although we do not pre-screen comments, we reserve the right at all times to remove any information or materials that are unlawful, threatening, abusive, libelous, defamatory, obscene, vulgar, pornographic, profane, indecent or otherwise objectionable to us, and to disclose any information necessary to satisfy the law, regulation, or government request. We might permanently block any user who abuses these conditions.

If you see comments that you find offensive, please use the “Flag as Inappropriate” feature by hovering over the right side of the post, and pulling down on the arrow that appears. Or, contact our editors by emailing moderator@scng.com.